Spaceship
Earth
Epcot

INTRODUCTION

"Journey with us now to the dawn of recorded time..."

You can't
miss it! The shimmering geosphere that houses Spaceship Earth is
visible from the road before you even get to the parking lot. Spaceship
Earth is the story of communications throughout the ages -- where
we have been and where we are going. It is the Icon of Epcot,
towering 180 feet above the park.

ATTRACTION

Spaceship Earth - Learn about the
history of communications from cavemen to future centuries.
The voice of Academy®
Award-winning, English actress Dame Judy Dench guides
you through this gentle 16-minute ride.

As you journey though the superb Audio-Animatronic
scenes, your seats eventually rotate to reveal a glorious star-filled
night sky. You continue your trip backwards passing through the
future.

Some
scene highlights include: the New Kingdom of Egypt where the papyrus was
invented, 9th century BC Phoenicians invent the alphabet, Renaissance
in Italy, the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, Ancient Greece, Dark Ages and Destruction
of Rome, the Age of Enlightenment, and the invention of the printing press.
As your journey comes to an end, the narrator notes: "We
all share the common bonds of hope and sorrows and dreams and joys."

Ten
time Emmy®-award winning composer Bruce Broughton conducted a 63-piece
orchestra and 24-voice choir for a new musical score for Spaceship Earth
at Walt Disney World Resort. For
the musical score, each scene was infused with musical styles and instruments
appropriate to the time period, which was not an easy task according to
Walt Disney Imagineering senior show producer Bob Zalk. To have
that score transition smoothly as vehicles travel from one time period
to the next is extremely difficult, he said. The first time
we rode through the attraction accompanied by that music, we were amazed.

Project Tomorrowland Post-Show by Siemens

TOURING TIPS

Spaceship Earth is one of Epcot's premiere attractions and is NOT
to be missed.

Spaceship Earth is a continuous-loading
ride and the line moves at a steady pace. Even so, do not wait in
a long line for Spaceship Earth. Many people will stop
here first thing, as it is the first attraction you see upon entering
the park. Later in the day, there is little if any line for Spaceship
Earth.

Portions of Spaceship Earth are
very dark. For the last third of the ride your vehicle will be backwards,
rotating to face forward just before you exit.

On occasion, your "time vehicle"
may stop momentarily. This usually is to allow persons in wheelchairs
to transfer in and out of the ride vehicle.

KIDS AND CHARACTERS

Make sure to mention the priceless
moment when your toddler sees the SpaceShip Earth for the first time,
and how their eyes light up and they start pointing and squealing.
It is a great photo opportunity. (David Reich)

Portions of Spaceship Earth are
very dark. Small children may be anxious and should be warned to
stay seated.

SHOPPING

Gateway Gifts - basic Disney
logo items

Camera Center - West support leg
of Spaceship Earth.

INTERESTING FACTS AND HISTORY

The geosphere is 165 feet in diameter and
weighs 16 million pounds. It encompasses 2.2 million cubic feet of space
and has an outside surface diameter of 150,000 square feet. It is
covered by 11,324 triangular panels and held aloft by 6 support legs that
are sunk over 100 feet into the ground.

Science
fiction writer Ray Bradbury and a host of other consultants and advisors
worked with the Disney Imagineers to develop Spaceship Earth.

The hieroglyphics on the walls in the ancient
Egyptian scene of the attraction are authentic recreations of actual hieroglyphics.
The words being dictated by the Pharaoh were taken from an actual letter
sent by a pharaoh to one of his agents.

The page of the Bible that Johann Gutenberg
is examining is an exact replica of a page of the Gutenberg Bible on display
in the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA.

Spaceship Earth underwent a rehab
in 1994. At that time, Jeremy Irons replaced Walter Cronkite as
the narrator. Also the ending was changed, more audio animatronics
were added, and the song, Tomorrow's Child, was replaced with an instrumental
musical ending.

If Spaceship Earth were a golf ball,
the golfer would need to be one mile tall!

Spaceship Earth is made out of alucabond,
a carbon - aluminum compound, which is easily cleaned and can withstand
the Florida climate.

Spaceship Earth is actually 2 spheres,
one inside the other. The outer shell houses the inner core and ride
system.

Spaceship Earth
has a unique gutter system so that guests passing by do not have rain
dumped on them. The panels were developed to suck in the water as
it hits them and in turn it replenishes the water around the World Showcase
Lagoon.

For the Millennium
Celebration, a special structure was attached to Spaceship Earth,
Mickey's Hand holding up the 2000. Subsequently, he word EPCOT replaced
the 2000 on Spaceship Earth. At
257 feet tall, theMillennium 2000 Icon
was the tallest point at Walt Disney World Resort, besting the
199 feet of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney-MGM
Studios.

Mickey's gloved hand, the wand and
the "2000" logo weighed nearly 50 tons. The steel
frame that supported the icon weighed 250 tons. Each number in the
"2000" logo was 36 feet tall. Those numbers are
covered with more than 250,000 reflective eye-catchers.

In 1988,
the Epcot Daredevil Circus Spectacular was performed 4 times a
day in Future World. As part of the act, two Space Cyclists would race
toward Spaceship Earth on a high wire! The Rodriguez Family performed
trapeze acts around the sphere also!

Leave a Legacy:

The
Leave A Legacy program, launched in Fall 1999, was discontinued as of June 16, 2007. The current display of more than
550,000 tiles at the main entrance of Epcot will remain for the time
being.

Introduced for the Millennium
Celebration! Granite and steel sculptures are being covered
with engraved images of Guests from all over the world. Here's how it
works: Photo Capture Stations will take your photo digitally.
It will then be etched onto a steel tile. Within approximately four
days, the tile will become part of the stone sculptures.
The cost is $35 for one image per tile, $38 for two images per tile,
plus tax.

There are computers at the site to show
you where your tile is located. Certificates will also be mailed to
you so you can come back on a future trip to see your Millennium
image. Also within about 2 weeks, your image will be posted on the Internet
at Disney's Leaving a Legacy page.

"The Leave a Legacy plaza
was designed by veteran Imagineer John Hench, along with a team of Walt
Disney Imagineering interns. Hench started as an artist with The
Walt Disney Company in 1939, and went on to help design and build Disneyland.
He was the original art director for Epcot, and chief designer of Spaceship
Earth. The megaliths range from 3 to 19 feet high, and the heaviest
weighs more than 50,000 pounds." (Disney's Press Release)